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Ummagumma
Studio album / live album by Pink Floyd
Released	7 November 1969 (1969-11-07)
Recorded	September 1968 – July 1969 (studio) 27 April and 2 May 1969 (live)
Venue	Mothers Club, Birmingham Manchester College of Commerce, Manchester
Studio	EMI, London
Genre	Experimental avant-garde psychedelic rock progressive rock space rock
Length	86:32 39:24 (live album) 46:51 (studio album)
Label	Harvest
Producer	Pink Floyd Norman Smith
Pink Floyd chronology
More (1969) Ummagumma (1969) Atom Heart Mother (1970)

Ummagumma is the fourth album by English rock band Pink Floyd. It is a double album and was released on 7 November 1969 by Harvest Records. The first disc consists of live recordings from concerts at Mothers Club in Birmingham and the College of Commerce in Manchester that contained part of their normal set list of the time, while the second contains solo compositions by each member of the band recorded at EMI Studios (now Abbey Road Studios). The artwork was designed by regular Pink Floyd collaborators Hipgnosis and features a number of pictures of the band combined to give a Droste effect. It was the last album cover to feature the band.

Although Ummagumma was well received at the time of release, and was a top-five hit in the UK album charts, it has since been looked upon unfavourably by critics and by the band, who have expressed lukewarm opinions about it in interviews. The album has been reissued on CD several times, along with the rest of their catalogue.

Title

The album's title supposedly comes from Cambridge slang for sex, commonly used by Pink Floyd friend and occasional roadie Iain "Emo" Moore, who would say, "I'm going back to the house for some ummagumma". According to Moore, he made up the term himself. Drummer Nick Mason later said the album was titled "because it sounded interesting and nice."

Background

The original idea behind the live album was to feature fan favourites that would subsequently be dropped from the set. Although the sleeve notes say that the live material was recorded in June 1969, the live album of Ummagumma was recorded live at Mothers Club in Birmingham on 27 April 1969 and the following week at Manchester College of Commerce on 2 May as part of The Man and The Journey Tour. Keyboardist Richard Wright later said the recording of "A Saucerful of Secrets" was a composite from both gigs. A show at Bromley Technical College on 26 April was also recorded but not used. The band had also recorded a live version of "Interstellar Overdrive" (from The Piper at the Gates of Dawn) intended for placement on side one of the live album, and "Embryo", which was recorded in the studio before it was decided that the band members each come up with their own material.

The studio album was recorded in stages between September 1968 and July 1969. The structure came as a result of Wright wanting to make "real music", where the four group members (in order: Wright, Roger Waters, David Gilmour and Mason) each had half an LP side to create a solo work without involvement from the others. Wright's contribution, "Sysyphus", was named after a character in Greek mythology, usually spelled "Sisyphus", and contained a combination of various keyboards, including piano and mellotron. Although initially enthusiastic about making a solo contribution, Wright later described it as "pretentious".

Waters' "Grantchester Meadows" was a more pastoral acoustic offering that referred back to his youth in the Cambridge suburbs. It originated from an instrumental piece that had been occasionally performed live and was usually played as an opening to concerts during 1969, with vocals. His other track, "Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict", contained a variety of vocal and percussion effects treated at various speeds, both forwards and backwards, and was influenced by Ron Geesin, who would later collaborate with both Waters and Pink Floyd. The two tracks were bridged by the sound of a fly being swatted.

Gilmour has since stated he was apprehensive about creating a solo work, and admits he "went into a studio and started waffling about, tacking bits and pieces together", although part one of "The Narrow Way" had already been performed as "Baby Blue Shuffle in D Major" in a BBC radio session in December 1968. Gilmour said he "just bullshitted" through the piece. He asked Waters to write some lyrics for his compositions, but Waters refused to do so. The third part of the suite was briefly performed live in early 1969.

Mason's three-part "The Grand Vizier's Garden Party" featured his then wife, Lindy, playing uncredited flute on the first and third parts. The seven-minute second part incorporated percussion, tape effects and drum soloing. Although this track was not performed live, a similar drum solo, "Doing It", was incorporated into The Man live suite.

Packaging

The album was the first album by the band released on the Harvest label. The cover artwork shows a Droste effect featuring the group, with a picture hanging on the wall showing the same scene, except that the band members have switched positions, and this is then repeated two more times. On most older editions, in the very center of the Droste pattern is a tiny rendering of the band's previous LP A Saucerful of Secrets; newer editions depict the Droste pattern repeating indefinitely. The cover of the original LP varies between the British, United States, Canadian and Australian releases. The British version has the Gigi soundtrack album leaning against the wall immediately above the "Pink Floyd" letters. Storm Thorgerson explained that the album was introduced as a red herring to provoke debate, and that it has no intended meaning. On most copies of US and Canadian editions, the Gigi cover is airbrushed to a plain white sleeve, apparently because of copyright concerns, but the earliest US copies do show the Gigi cover, and it was restored for the US remastered CD edition. On the Australian edition, the Gigi cover is completely airbrushed, not even leaving a white square behind. The house used as the location for the front cover of the album is located in Great Shelford, near Cambridge.

On the rear cover, roadies Alan Styles (who also appears in "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast") and Peter Watts are shown with the band's equipment laid out on a taxiway at London Biggin Hill Airport. This concept was proposed by Mason, with the intention of replicating the "exploded" drawings of military aircraft and their payloads, which were popular at the time. The inner gatefold art shows separate black-and-white photos of the band members. Gilmour is seen standing in front of the Elfin Oak. Original vinyl editions showed Waters with his first wife, Judy Trim, but she has been cropped out of the picture on most CD editions (with the original photo's caption "Roger Waters (and Jude)" accordingly changed to just "Roger Waters"). The uncropped picture was restored for the album's inclusion in the box set Oh, by the Way.

On the US and Canadian release there are additional titles of the four sections of the song "A Saucerful of Secrets". These titles did not appear on British editions, nor on any copies of the earlier album A Saucerful of Secrets.

Release history

Ummagumma was released in the UK and US on 7 and 8 November 1969, respectively. It reached number 5 on the UK albums chart and number 74 in the US, marking the first time the band reached the top 100 there. Similarly in Canada, it was their first appearance on the charts, reaching number 78. The album was certified gold in the US in February 1974 and platinum in March 1994. US versions of the cassette retained only "Astronomy Domine" from the live set and omitted the three other tracks. In 1987, the album was re-released on a two-CD set. A digitally remastered version was issued in 1994.

In 2009, to mark the 40th anniversary of the album's release, Thorgerson sold a limited number of autographed lithographs of the front cover.

In 2011, it was reissued featuring a remastered version with various other material. Although the 2011 re-release campaign Why Pink Floyd...? presented all fourteen albums newly remastered in 2011, only the studio disc of Ummagumma was remastered – the live disc is the previous 1994 version. Both the live and studio album were re-issued in 2016 with Pink Floyd Records label.

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
The Daily Telegraph
The Great Rock Discography	7/10
Encyclopedia of Popular Music
MusicHound	2.5/5
Paste	5.0/10
The Rolling Stone Album Guide
Sputnikmusic	4/5
Tom Hull	B

On release, Ummagumma received favourable reviews. International Times was particularly positive about the live album, with the reviewer describing it as "probably one of the best live recordings I have ever heard". Stylus Magazine was very positive towards the album, saying the live album was "as a visceral document of the early Floyd's proclivity for atmospheric, energetic jamming, there's nothing else like it" and that the studio one "somehow transcends its fractured construction to make a full album-length statement".

However, retrospective reviewers have given it mixed-to-negative ratings. Rolling Stone and MusicHound each awarded the album a score of 2.5 out of 5, while Paste, reviewing the 2011 re-release, described the album as "rock excess of the worst kind", although the writer praised the live version of "Careful with that Axe, Eugene". In his review for the Pink Floyd album Atom Heart Mother, Robert Christgau suggested that Ummagumma's "hypnotic melodies" made it "an admirable record to fall asleep to". Paul Stump, in his book The Music's All that Matters: A History of Progressive Rock, approved of the first disc for its "often involvingly spiritual live improvisation", while deriding most of the studio disc, going so far as to liken "Sysyphus" to "an excitable two-year-old let loose on the bass end of a piano keyboard". However, he praised both of Waters's solo contributions and the editing and splicing techniques used on "The Grand Vizier's Tea Party". Bradley Smith's The Billboard Guide to Progressive Music (1997) recognises the studio disc as the more significant half of the record and also as "perhaps one of the most adventurous recordings ever released by a major label group."

The band have since been dismissive and critical of the work. Recalling the album in later years, Waters said: "Ummagumma – what a disaster!", while in 1995, Gilmour described the album as "horrible". In a 1984 interview, Mason said: "I thought it was a very good and interesting little exercise, the whole business of everyone doing a bit. But I still feel really that that's quite a good example of the sum being greater than the parts ..." Later, he described it as "a failed experiment", adding that "the most significant thing is that we didn't do it again".

Dragonfly species

In December 2015 scientists named a newfound insect of the genus Umma – a damselfly – Umma gumma after the album.

Track listing

Live album

Studio album

Personnel

Pink Floyd

• David Gilmour – lead guitar, vocals (live album); voices on "Several Species of Small Furry Animals..."; acoustic and electric guitars, bass guitar, keyboards, drums and vocals on "The Narrow Way"
• Nick Mason – drums (live album); percussion, effects on "The Grand Vizier's Garden Party" parts 1 & 2
• Roger Waters – bass guitar, vocals (live album); acoustic guitars and vocals on "Grantchester Meadows", voices on "Several Species of Small Furry Animals..."
• Richard Wright – keyboards, vocals (live album); organ, piano, Mellotron and percussion on "Sysyphus"

Additional personnel

• Lindy Mason – flutes on "The Grand Vizier's Garden Party" Parts 1 & 3 (uncredited)
• Brian Humphries – engineering (live album)
• Pink Floyd – production (live album)
• Peter Mew – engineering (studio album)
• Norman Smith – production (studio album)
• Hipgnosis – sleeve design and photographs

Charts

Certifications

References

Citations

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3. ^ Manning 2006, p. 160.
4. ^ Povey 2007, p. 115.
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6. Alistair Lawrence (2012). Abbey Road: The Best Studio in the World. A&C Black. p. 14. ISBN 9781408832417. Archived from the original on 21 May 2021. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
7. Schaffner 2005, p. 157.
8. Blake 2008, p. 137.
9. ^ Guesdon & Margotin 2017, p. 182.
10. Povey 2007, pp. 88–89.
11. ^ Schaffner 2005, p. 156.
12. ^ Mabbett 2010, p. 85.
13. ^ Povey 2007, p. 89.
14. Povey 2007, pp. 88, 107–108.
15. Mabbett, Andy (1995). The Complete Guide to the Music of Pink Floyd. London: Omnibus Press. p. 27. ISBN 0-7119-4301-X.
16. ^ Mason 2011, p. 129.
17. ^ Mason 2011, p. 130.
18. ^ Manning 2006, p. 161.
19. Fielder, Hugh (2013). Pink Floyd: Behind the Wall. Race Point Publishing. p. 48. ISBN 9781937994259. Archived from the original on 21 May 2021. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
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21. Povey 2007, p. 87.
22. Umphred, Neil (1994). Goldmine's Price Guide to Collectible Record Albums (Fourth ed.). Krause Publications. p. 548.
23. Povey 2007, p. 29.
24. Mabbett 2010, p. 86.
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32. ^ DeCurtis, Anthony (11 May 2011). "Pink Floyd announce massive reissue project". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
33. "Pink Floyd to Launch Massive Vinyl Reissue Campaign". Rolling Stone. 6 May 2016. Archived from the original on 26 October 2017. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
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36. Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Omnibus Press. ISBN 9780857125958. Archived from the original on 21 May 2021. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
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38. ^ Deusner, Stephen (29 September 2011). "Pink Floyd: Ummagumma ("Why Pink Floyd?" Reissue) :: Music :: Reviews :: Paste". Paste. Archived from the original on 29 March 2013. Retrieved 12 October 2012.
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65. "Italian album certifications – Pink Floyd – Ummagumma" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved 14 June 2016. Select "2016" in the "Anno" drop-down menu. Type "Ummagumma" in the "Filtra" field. Select "Album e Compilation" under "Sezione".
66. "British album certifications – Pink Floyd – Ummagumma". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
67. "American album certifications – Pink Floyd – Ummagumma". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 9 June 2016.

Sources

• Blake, Mark (25 November 2008). Comfortably Numb: The Inside Story of Pink Floyd. Da Capo Press Inc. p. 137. ISBN 978-0306817526.
• Guesdon, Jean-Michel; Margotin, Philippe (2017). Pink Floyd All the Songs – The Story Behind Every Track. Running Press. ISBN 978-0-316-43923-7.
• Povey, Glenn (2007). Echoes: The Complete History of Pink Floyd. Mind Head Publishing. ISBN 978-0-955-46240-5.
• Mabbett, Andy (2010). Pink Floyd- The music and the mystery. Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-857-12418-0.
• Manning, Toby (2006). The Rough Guide to Pink Floyd (1st ed.). London: Rough Guides. ISBN 1-84353-575-0.
• Mason, Nick (2011) . Philip Dodd (ed.). Inside Out – A Personal History of Pink Floyd (Paperback ed.). Phoenix. ISBN 978-0-7538-1906-7.
• Schaffner, Nicholas (2005). Saucerful of Secrets: The Pink Floyd Odyssey (New ed.). London: Helter Skelter. ISBN 1-905139-09-8.

Notes

1. These times reflect CD track divisions. However, track divisions on original vinyl releases have the CD's "Part I & II" combined into one part and the CD's "Part IV" split into two parts. The vinyl track divisions, rather than the CD ones, reflect the actual breaks in the music.

External links

• Ummagumma at Discogs (list of releases)

• 1969 albums
• Albums produced by David Gilmour
• Albums produced by Nick Mason
• Albums produced by Norman Smith (record producer)
• Albums produced by Richard Wright (musician)
• Albums produced by Roger Waters
• Albums with cover art by Hipgnosis
• Albums with cover art by Storm Thorgerson
• EMI Records albums
• Harvest Records albums
• Pink Floyd albums
• Pink Floyd live albums
• 1969 live albums
• EMI Records live albums
• Harvest Records live albums
• Experimental music albums by English artists